Discussions related to nuclear power have been on the lips of nearly every attendee of Japanese utilities’ shareholders meetings this week. At every meeting, the utilities faced numerous questions from their shareholders about their stance on withdrawing from nuclear power entirely, concerns over the resumption of nuclear plants were coupled with opinions urging them to […]

On June 23rd, two workers at Unit 5 of the Rawatbhata Atomic Power Station in Rajasthan were found to have suffered exposure to high doses of radioactive tritium which was inhaled while carrying out maintenance activities, and are currently under observation. Officials from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd said there was large amounts […]

The Palisades nuclear power plant in Van Buren County had five unplanned shutdowns last year, one was considered to be of substantial safety significance. The plant remains off-line, after being shutdown on June 12th. The Office of Investigations began the probe into the water tank leaks specifically, according to Prema Chandrathil, public affairs officer for the NRC. […]

In an interview with NHK, TEPCO’s new president Naomi Hirose said it is impossible for the company to bear the burden of compensation alone, as it continues to struggle to cope with the Fukushima disaster. Recent investigations by workers at Fukushima Daiichi have revealed areas where it is still unsafe for humans to work, and the […]

On Tuesday, TEPCO workers investigated the torus room of Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1. A camera, thermometer, and dosimeter were inserted through pipes above the torus room, and down into the torus room between the wall suppression chamber. The investigation revealed that the area was nearly half full of highly contaminated water, which was 10-15 degrees […]

The fortress of Chelyaba, from which the city takes its name, was constructed on the site in 1736; town status was granted to it in 1781. Around 1900, it served as a center for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. A serious nuclear accident occurred at the Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, which housed […]

When Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and three other cabinet ministers agreed to restart two suspended nuclear reactors at the Oi power station in central Japan they said that the central government “had confirmed the safety and the necessity” of the nuclear reactors. Ever since the decision to restart, the public response has been overwhelming, […]

Prior to departing for a two-day 21-member energy ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in St. Petersburg, Russia, Japanese Industry Minister Yukio Edano said he planned to explain new developments regarding nuclear power and was quoted by Kyodo News as saying, “In our country, we plan to reduce our dependency on nuclear power generation. […]

The Board of Audit of Japan plans to launch an in-depth investigation into TEPCO records to ensure the company makes compensation payments appropriately for disaster victims. The board will also ensure that TEPCO’s rationalizations for rate increases are valid, as the utility plans to receive more massive injections of public funds. Japan has marked 30 […]

The Japanese government has come under harsh scrutiny of their handling of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi. The central government has twice been exposed in the main stream media as having purposefully ignoring or withholding important radiological information from the public. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency conceded that as a direct result of […]

[quote] If you find tsunami debris, send an email to [email protected] We at Enformable would like to know about it, too; email us at [email protected] [/quote] Goshi Hosono, the Japanese Environment Minister announced that Japan will send a team of experts from JEAN, a Tokyo-based non-governmental organization that deals with ocean waste problems, to the […]

Japan’s nuclear crisis minister, Goshi Hosono, told Reuters in an interview that workers at Fukushima Daiichi will begin removing spent fuel from the Reactor 4 by the end of the year, adding, “We would like to start taking out undamaged fuel this year. Preparation is now under way.” “Doing it quickly is important. But we […]

This week, TEPCO released its final report of its internal investigation into the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and admits it failed to adequately prepare for the disaster, but cast blame on the government for adding “unnecessary confusion” to the accident. The report is based on 600 interviews, inspections, and other data, and concludes that the tsunami […]

In December 2011 following the Fukushima disaster, a new rule was proposed in Japan which limited the lifespan of a nuclear reactor in operation to 40 years, which in some cases may be given extensions. Last week, Japan’s central government accepted a request to repeal the 40 year age limit on nuclear reactors, in order […]

Only days after deciding to restart the Ohi reactors, Kansai Electric the operator and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency have already started out on the wrong foot with a “lapse in judgment” which delayed disclosure from the public. Kansai Electric officials announced on Wednesday that an alarm had gone off at the plant 13 […]

At a public meeting Monday night in San Clemente, officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission blamed faulty computer modeling by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as the most likely cause of the unacceptable amount of vibration and wear from rubbing which had been found in the steam generator units, but none of the parties involved can […]

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company have confirmed that one of the new OPR-1000 (Optimized Power Reactor 1000 MW) nuclear reactors in trial operation was shut down due to technical issues, a week after resuming operations following a stoppage due to flaws in the coolant pumps discovered in March. Officials say workers are still attempting […]

The Japanese government released a new report this week which blasts the response to the 2011 Fukushima disaster. It says that the tsunami estimates were well below the bounds of realistic expectation, the way the public was notified about the spread of radioactive materials was inappropriate, and that the nuclear safety rules overall were ineffective. […]